(first posted 7/5/2012) 1931. Just to say it out loud is almost like saying 1896 or 1744. For most of us (though not for the eldest among us), 1931 lacks the kind of context that gives an era meaning in our modern lives. So many things were in transition from an earlier era to a more modern one, and the transitions were often awkward and soon forgotten. And this big Buick coupe is part of that short era that would serve as a bridge between the roaring ’20s and the years leading up to the Second World War.

Many parts of life were going through an awkward transition stage, much as a nine year old boy becomes a teenager. Movies were just starting to talk, but most of the stars of the early talkies (like Marian Marsh) are now quite obscure, while several of the next generation are well known by many today. Jazz bands were slowly feeling their way into a more standardized big band format, but the swing era had not yet arrived and almost nobody today listens to records from 1931. Go a few years into the future, and the early records of Count Basie and Billie Holiday are parts of the jazz canon and are enjoyed by even young jazz fans today.

It is the same with the cars. The Model T had caused a seismic shift in the design of the passenger car, but the changes had been quite evolutionary through the 1920s and for a few years beyond. As the 1930s would further unfold, however, we would see many changes in function and style that would bring us up to and beyond World War II.

There are still some around who had some exposure to the Model A, just because there were so many of them peppered throughout American society. But a car like this 1931 Buick is so foreign, almost to the point of being irrelevant to those of us inhabiting the world of 2012. Such an attitude would be a mistake, I think, because cars like this one tell us a lot about their time.

In 1931, Herbert Hoover was still president. The U. S. stock market had crashed in late 1929, and the economy had been deteriorating steadily ever since, and still had a year or two to go before things would hit bottom. There were a lot of people out of work, but most people remained employed. Even when the great depression was at its worst, for every worker who was without a job, there were three other people from a variety of social strata who continued to earn a living. Many of those folks were in jobs that would later be called white collar. Bankers, doctors, lawyers and business owners who were able to stay afloat in a bad economy still needed new cars. If these folks felt secure enough to buy a new car in 1931, a Buick would certainly have been one of their top choices.

Buick had been one of the top sellers all through the 1920s, placing as high as 3rd in sales several times, including 1930 and 31. Even in a disastrous economy, Buick handily outsold quite a few less expensive cars, including Dodge, Pontiac and Studebaker. In the field of near-luxury cars of the early depression era, Buick was the gold standard. The slogan “When better cars are built, Buick will build them” was taken as the gospel truth by a whole lot of the car buying public in those years.

Buick’s third place in sales in the awful year of 1931 is all the more notable because this was the year that Buick ditched the six. For 1931, Buick would sell nothing but eight cylinder cars, which they would continue to do into the early 1960s. The Buick Eight (three of them, actually) would be notable for its Valve-in-Head (overhead valve) design. Quite unusual for the time, Buick and Chevrolet were among the very few players of the era (the Nash Ambassador was another) who dared to deviate from the flathead side valve design that was nearly universal until the late 1940s.

The Buick Eight ‘s overhead valve configuration actually followed the template of the Buick 6, that had been a valve-in-head design for quite a few years. The 1931 eight was actually two different engines. The smaller engine family was similar in design to the Chevrolet 6, and was a 220.7 cid version in the low-end 50 series, and a 272.6 cid version in the slightly larger 60 series. But the real Buick eight was the much larger and heavier 344.8 cube version found in the larger 80 and 90 series cars, where it was good for 104 horses (or two and a half times the output of a Ford Model A). The big engine would be slightly reduced in displacement to 320 cid in 1936, where it would remain under the hoods of upper-level Buicks through 1952. Although Buick claimed four 8s (or is it 4 eights?) for 1931, every source I have looked at lists only three. Perhaps there were some minor differences between the big engine as fitted in the 80 series cars as compared with that found in the bigger 90s.

The big straight eight in a big car would, of course, be fitted with some big brakes. This was one luxury of really big wheels, that they can accommodate really big brake drums. The mechanical binders did not seem to bother Buick customers in 1931, although hydraulics were making steady inroads into the market, and would be found in Buicks by 1932. If you could not wait for a new car, however, you still got to take advantage of automatic spark advance and Syncromesh in second and third gears. At least in some ways, the 1931 Buick was well on the way to operating like a modern car.

I found this big Buick in the parking lot of the country club where my daughter is working this summer. The Buick seemed to be working too, although it was taking a break when I caught it. It was in a challenging location to get some decent pictures, but I gave it my best shot. After snapping pictures, I figured that the hard part was out of the way since the car was sporting vintage license plates that gave away the year. But I was wrong. The tough part turned out to be – identifying the model. The internet was of only limited help, and it was time to blow the dust off of some books on a shelf in the basement. After a lot of research, induction and deduction, I have concluded that we have hit the 1931 Buick Jackpot with one of the big 90 series cars. Even more, this is one of only 2,990 Model 96S Country Club coupes built by Buick in 1931.

This is a long car. Viewed in person, the car’s 132 inch wheelbase may be just a touch too long for the rumble seat coupe body style. However, this car may offer the most legroom in a rumble seat of anything ever built. But just like today, if you are going to pay three or four times the cost of a new Ford, you want the car to be big enough so that it shows. Another departure from modern practice, is that I counted twenty two combinations of model and body style offered by Buick in 1931. This is a lot more variety than we have become used to.

I love the details on cars of this era. Built right in the middle of the art deco period, the dash panel is simply lovely. The clean and simple design of the interior oozes of quality. Even though the car was parked with the windows down, I followed the rule of look but don’t touch. And that was really, really hard to do, for this interior just begs you to run your hand across the soft upholstery and the beautiful chromed handles. These are the parts that they just don’t put in cars anymore.

I have also been long intrigued by the golf bag door that was commonly used in expensive coupes and roadsters. You simply cannot ask your well-heeled customers to try to horse a golf bag into an open rumble seat. But for passengers, it was ok? Two steps and in. So easy for a lady’s graceful entrance and exit. What’s more, there was the thoughtful touch of a rear window that cranks down to allow for conversation between the insiders and the outsiders. What could be more comfortable? At least for those inside. When, exactly, were rumble seats renamed from the earlier mother-in-law seats? Alas, the rumble seat would soon be a thing of the past. It seems that these outside accommodations are much more popular as a novelty today than they ever were when they were new.

Buick ran a lot of ads for these cars. One in particular seems quite predictive of the future: Youngsters like this one would one day fight in a World War, and would then come home and buy a whole lot of new Buicks, well into the 1990s and even beyond. It helps to realize that it was cars like this one that lit and tended the flame in the hearts of so many of these young boys during their childhoods, as they rode in their fathers’ Buicks. Or, more commonly, as they watched from outside as others rode in the Buicks that their own fathers could not afford.

A few things have not changed since 1931. One is that then as now, Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac were doing most of the heavy lifting at General Motors. I wish I had more confidence that Buick’s youngest generation was equipped for its work as well as this one was in its day.

There is at least one other thing that has not changed since 1931. It is not hard to imagine that eighty years ago, this would have been just the car to ferry an upper crust newlywed couple to their wedding reception at the country club. This old Buick is still doing just that in 2012, and with as much style as ever. I suspect that there were several in the wedding party who were unable to get beyond “hey, cool car”. If so, then I hope that there was someone there to explain just what a Buick Series 90 meant to people in 1931. Cars of this long-ago era are a lot like our oldest living relatives and friends. They have a lot of interesting things to say to us, if we will just take the time to sit and listen.

60 Comments

What a beautiful old car. My Dad was born in 1931, same vintage. He turned 80 last year.

Not to take the comment thread off topic right at the top, but this reminded me of the Gus Wilson and the Model Garage articles that Popular Science Monthly ran from the late 1920s through the last story in 1970.

The early years stories are a fascinating glimpse into what was of interest to automobile owners of the day. Your comment about hydraulic brakes, for example, is mentioned in several stories – as with any new innovation, car builders holding onto mechanical brakes published all sorts of horror stories about hydraulic brakes, right up until they converted themselves.

At any rate, thanks for the writeup on this one. Its stories are still being told after eighty (80?) years!

My grandmother learned to drive at about the time this car was built. In Indiana, where she lived, drivers didn’t need licenses. She taught herself to drive by getting in the family car and figuring it out. There were plenty of dusty, empty rural roads to practice on.

Great find, and a great writeup! You’ve really put it in context where this car fit in when it was new.

One minor quibble: I have read in a few places that Plymouth displaced Buick as #3 by number of vehicles sold in 1931. Allpar says that Plymouth held the #3 position from 1931 until 1954 when it again surrendered it to Buick.

You raise a good question. I was ready to go with Plymouth at No. 3, but according to Wiki, Buick produced 138,965 for 3rd and Plymouth produced 75,510 for 6th in 1931. Wiki shows Studebaker and Pontiac as 4th and 5th.

This seems like quite a disparity. I suppose it could be a model year vs. calendar year thing, or a total production (including export) with a production for domestic use, or just a plain mistake. Or production vs. sales? I have no idea. I am not at home and cannot check my production figures book. Maybe Maggiecat can come to our rescue on this.

Something of that vintage is incredible to drive. Incredible, as in difficult compared to modern standards. Try to visualize a two wheel drive F-250 or F-350 without power steering or brakes.

The oldest car I ever owned was a 1937 Special (40 series, about the equivalent of the 1931 50 series), and the difference in six years of auto development was night and day. The 1931 is completely vintage, both feet firmly in the 1920’s. A 1937 car was at the beginnings of modern automobiles. By that point it drove like an F-150 without power steering, brakes, etc.; was generally more responsive and easier to drive.

Beautiful find JP. Wasn’t around in 1931 but I had two older siblings that were. When I was young finding a car of this vintage would not have been noteworthy but finding one in this shape would have probably been something in 1935. Habits of the rich and famous.

Good research on the model. I swear that some of these old cars had models that ran for fifteen minutes and I remember when people got out of the ordinary combinations from the factory by wanting it and paying extra.

I remember when people got out of the ordinary combinations from the factory by wanting it and paying extra.

And that is the way it should be and the way I still wish it was. Lets say its 2010 and you WANT to order a new Impala with no options save the 3.9V6, basically a cop car with carpet, you should have been able to. Coversely if you had wanted to order an LTZ with the smaller 3.5V6 because you have an obsession with saving gas but still wanted to ride in luxury, you should have been able to.

Dan, this would be possible if you were willing to pay a lot more for the kind of car most people buy these days, meaning fully equipped. Hardly anything goes out the door without a/c, ps, pb, cruise, keyless entry, you name it.

Standardising options on models has made cars much cheaper, in relative form, than they were in the past.

Jim, thanks for such an excellent read this morning. Another Curbie nomination, I’d say.

I’d bet that rumble seat didn’t get much use; kind of like the back seats in a 911. Which in its way, is what this car was: a beautiful and well-built status-mobile.

Funny thing about overhead valves; they’d been around since the beginning, and most tractors and lots of other engines used them. But the flat head was obviously a bit cheaper, and good enough, in a time when efficiency and performance were secondary to smooth running.

Performance =torque something flat heads had plenty of it was only breathing efficiency that let them down this Buick was nearly current when my dad went to work at a GM store he was GM to his bootstraps and loved Buicks and even the tiny outfit he worked at sold several Buick on special orders from the US as there was no local assembly beyond Oldsmobile. Buick was an upper class brand and cost accordingly it had no comparism to a lowly Ford and the well off Farmers who bought them wouldnt have been seen dead in a Ford especially once Henry’s much vaunted V8 arrived on the scene the low priced field was Chevrolet territory and if your wallet coulgnt cope with a Chevy you could have an English Vauxhall or a nice used car at a better price than a troublesome but cheap 8 cylinder Ford and then every 30,000 miles it didnt need a rebore like the Fords. The nearest Ford dealer was a town away so Ford and Walter P repairs were carried out where my dad worked the local bus company ran Fargo and Dodge buses well into my youth even my dads firm had a lend lease Fargo 3 tonner for delivering tractors untill Fergies out grew it in the 70s, my Dad had very little bad to say about Chryslers vehicles but the sheer cost of ownership to keep a Henry V8 alive appalled him those early unaged Blocks were way too soft and wore out rapidly it wasnt untill production got well ahead of demand that enough age could be put into Ford castings before machining that the V8 became any good at all people here who traded their unbreakable T or A changed brands fairly easily when they saw how long a Chev or Vauxhall ran without a ring job. Buick was the top of our GM tree back then Caddies were unobtainable except from the larger dealerships in Auckland or other main centres, pre WW2.

A very nice car. What else can I say? Even though I’m 61, I have no connection to this era, say for the fact dad was in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) for a time until his arm was smashed by falling rock from an explosion no one warned him about up in Oregon building roads…

Billie Holiday? Are you kidding me? She was and still is horrible to try to listen to, and even though my jazz/standards internet radio station I listen to, “Martini in the Morning”, plays some of her stuff, I turn it down so I can’t hear her squeaky, whiny attempts to sing a note…simply lousy and unlistenable and…well, that’s how I feel about that!

Outstanding work, Jim, first-class. Those ads are so compelling. We know so little of that time really. This piece builds the history of why Buick has been such a solid brand for so long.

I am curious about the two levers on the steering wheel hub. Hand throttle and timing advance? In spite of having automatic advance? I don’t expect you could see such details in the parking lot, but maybe there’s an expert out there among the Commentariat.

Interesting coincidence with today’s news of the US formal complaint against China’s new import duties on American-built cars. In the era of this car Buicks were hugely successful in China, one site said 1 in 6 cars sold there in the 1930s, partly due to Emperor Puyi’s choice of Buicks for his fleet. (Often cited by GM but I was surprised to come up empty on a photo.) That history accounts for GM’s success building and selling Buicks in China today, which surely has a lot to do with the Buick brand’s survival.

Those switches in the steering wheel hub – good question. In my 29 Model A, the headlight switch was in the wheel hub just like that. This car has an auxiliary set of headlights, could both of those be light switches? Pure (educated) guess on my part. It looks like we need some old-timers on this one.

In terms of having four eights, Buick did briefly in 1934-35 — there was a new small eight for the Series 40 (later known as Special), which Harlow Curtice introduced for 1934. The Series 40 engine was very similar in displacement to the previous small eight (which was bored out slightly to 235 cu. in. for 1934), but had a number of substantial internal differences and quite different bore and stroke dimensions. The 233 actually claimed a bit more power than the 235 in the Series 50 (later known as Super), but was rather troublesome.

A beautiful car and a great write-up. Thanks. Also, I must mention that all of the Gus Wilson stories are available from 1925 to 1970 at http://www.gus-stories.org. I have read the series perhaps three times over the past number of years and find them endlessly facinating.

I’m trying to remember, as it was between ’68 and ’72 when I had a chance to drive: a Duesenberg, a couple of different Buicks all around that year, and a couple of different Packards of similar vintage. Not helped by my being half scared at having the chance, so my control experience was limited to throttle, brake, clutch and gear lever.

Hand throttle is a probable guess. My ’37 had one although it was a pull knob on the left side of the dash. What passed for cruise control in those days. Straight mechanical linkage to the carburetor butterfly.

Lights and wipers are probably the two knobs at the bottom center of the instrument cluster.

Looking closely, the ’31 appear to have the same ignition switch as my ’37. If so (and this I don’t remember, probably because the car was already running when I got behind the wheel): The key is just a lock. To the right is a large chrome toggle switch. Up for switch on, down for switch off (which would mean that the starter solenoid is in the accelerator pedal – push down partially on the pedal and the starter motor turns over the engine). Now for the cute feature. Switch off, and turn the key counterclockwise to lock, it both locks the steering column AND pulls the toggle switch into the key housing making it impossible to move to the switch on position.

If the one steering hub control is a hand throttle, the other might be a manual choke. While Buick definitely had an automatic choke by ’37, I don’t know what they used in ’31. 1934 was the big watershed year for Buick (and a lot of the rest of the American auto industry, for that matter). If anything, that year was the dividing year between cars that were totally vintage, and cars that started to operate like most 30 year olds would be used to a car operating today. ’34 was a year of huge changes for Buick, the year they finally threw off the Depression and started down the road to post-WWII powerhouse. Despite the cheery sounding sales figures in the article (accurate, by the way) Buick was not in particularly good shape during the 30-33 period.

For that matter, General Motors in general wasn’t doing all the well during those years. Chevrolet was healthy (all the low price brands with large companies backing them were doing OK), Oakland was dying out, Pontiac was healthy only in comparison to Oakland, Marquette and Viking were dead, Oldsmobile was doing OK at best, LaSalle was scheduled for termination at the end of the ’33 model year (until the planned ’34 restyle was shown to upper management – and then it survived by using an Oldsmobile straight eight and getting a price cut couple with an equipment increase), and Cadillac was doing OK more due to being the only luxury marque with a huge corporation backing it than healthy sales.

Cadillac’s position also was rather precarious in the early thirties — the story is that it was close to being shut down when Nick Dreystadt convinced corporate management to spare the division a while longer. Sales had plummeted from over 15,000 in 1931 to fewer than 5,000 in 1932 and only about 3,200 for 1933. Cadillac didn’t really begin recovering until 1936.

Good point. Cab Calloway is one of the few bands (Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong come to mind) who were big names before the swing era who made the transition and remained popular afterwards. The fact that there were so few of them was kind of my point, though.

Hi there. I just found this write up on this extraordinary car today after finding some family photos with some unidentified cars. From this article I have learned that one may be a Country Club Coupe, as featured here, though its wheels look like those from a lesser Model 67, and it is missing the auxiliary lights below the headlamps. The retracting top and golf club bag door make me think it’s the CCC, but these were also featured on the 66 S Sport Coupe, right? From this angle, it is difficult to tell how long the car is. I suppose that would be the determining factor as the 66 is much shorter.

I took another look. I remember now that Oldcarbrochures had only a 1930 brochure, which used different model numbers. I had an old book at home that broke out production figures of various models and body styles for 1931 and I kind of had to extrapolate. Each year listed only one “Country Club coupe”, both in the longest wheelbase top model. From your two pictures, it is hard to get the right view. Some of the lesser Buicks were on shorter wheelbases, which seem to show up on cowl and door width. I had the luxury of several views that I photographed, a luxury that you lack with these pictures. Other than this particular car which I found and researched, I have no other background in Buicks of this era. However, I am sure that there are some other websites that may get you some more info. Good luck!

I enjoyed this very much….I am a proud owner of a 1931 Buick model 96C that underwent a full restoration about twenty-five years ago. I bought it fifteen years ago.
Mine is just like the one above except the color. Mine is two tone Ambassador Brown & beige. If you’re going 50 MPH those mechanical brakes take a long way to stop.

Hi, just wondering if this is the same car that I photographed almost 2 years ago in Mooresville Indiana? Where did you see this one? Just curious since there were so few of these made according to your research. Thanks for posting your pics and info. very helpful to me in identifying my photos.

Hello, tonight poking about on the web I found this site Curbside Classics. Also found my car. Mr. Cavanaugh found my 31 Buick on the occasion of my sons wedding at the Country Club in Indianapolis.
Short story: I purchased this car when I was 15. Dad drove it until I finally had a license. In NJ that was at the age of 17. I drove it through high school and for 3 more years. In 1964 I sold it to finance collage. Six years ago through a series of events that one finds difficult to believe when they happen I found the car and reacquired it. Amazingly it had only been driven a few thousand miles over the time it was not in my possession. All toll I figure I have driven the Buick a little over 100 thousand miles. While in high school it went every where. But then again back then I could pick up the telephone and order any part that I might need. Today obtaining parts it is a totally different story so it does not venture too far from home. Adding to the part dilemma is the fact that 1931 was the first year of the straight eight engine. And in 1932 many changes occurred in both engine and body so there is very little compatibility rearward and forward in years.
And Pamela you are correct as I live just west of Martinsville Indiana which for all others is just south of Mooresville Indiana where Pamela photographed the Buick.
The Buick is completely original other than the addition of directional signals and a third stop light in the rear window.
I also own several Model A Fords and can attest that comparing driving the Buick to a Ford Model A the Buick goes down the road just like if one was sitting in ones favorite living room chair while the A is more akin to a washing machine if modern shocks and other enhancements have not been retrofitted. Likewise the Buick will cruise easily at 60 MPH all day completely original while the model A requires considerable engine enhancements to do likewise.
To answer other questions. The two levers on the steering wheel. The lower lever controls the parking and head lights and the upper is the 1931 version of cruise control ( a throttle lever which when set allows the removal of ones foot from the gas petal.)
An other neat feature is the driving lights called Pilot Rays which travel/turn with the front wheels. A simple mechanical attachment to the drag link accomplishes this feature.
These days the Buick gets about 10 miles per gallon of fuel and a quart of oil about every 150 miles.
It was a pleasant surprise to find her on the web and certainly appreciate all the comments on her.
Tom Bruce

Fabulous to hear from you, Tom. I must tell you, finding and writing about your car has been one of the highlights of my time at CC. I love writing about the prewar stuff, but because our deal is to write about what we find, the occasion doesn’t come up that often. I stumbled across your car purely by luck. I was driving my daughter to work (she was probably one of the banquet servers at your son’s wedding reception) when I saw the car and had to stop for some pictures. A lovely and fascinating car.

Your story about your car would make a great sequel to the piece on your Buick. We encourage folks to submit “My Curbside Classic” pieces, and I would encourage you to consider doing so. I would be happy to help any way that I can. It is not often (at least these days) that someone has this kind of history with a car from that era. Your story sounds as fascinating as your car.

I posted a comment on April 12th and I have to make a correction.. My Buick is not a
96C…It is a 1931 Model 8-96S which is what I think Tom Bruce’s is except mine has
duel side mount spare tires and a fold down platform to strap a trunk on the rear. My
home is about 25 miles west of Seattle near Belfair, WA
There is a guy named Gary in Seattle with a 1931 Model 8-96C and I think he and I
will have both our Buicks in Portland, OR July 23-26 of 2014 for the ‘Buick Club of America’ National Meet. Here is a picture of my car.

I was searching Buicks while trying to identify this one – http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle.php?id=737024 – and found this page. I wonder how many people have noticed that the car here has its landau irons on upside down, as has the car in the movie. I think they may need to be swapped from side to side as well. Compare them with those on the advertising pic and also Frank McCorkie’s car.

A beautiful car from a difficult period. Most people today seem to forget that what happened between 1929-33 led to the rise of Fascism/Nazism and the resulting war and cold war that shaped the rest of the 20th century. Thanks to the magic of Youtube I often listen to the music of this period – there are some wonderful melodies and turns of phrase that really makes these old songs magic to listen to.

On the subject of landau bars, being in the deathcare business, I see hearses with decorative landau bars every day, and I never realized how far away from the body a “real”, functional landau bar could be…ours are vacuum-formed plastic held to the bodyside by bolts attached to the round discs at either end of the bar, and that’s it.